hey there all; going through my canidates for sound /dcc conversion and unboxing some old e-bay buys, all of “new only test run” type…I have 2 fa-1 & 1 fb-2 p2k…test running last night on zehper set at 0 address… I found some expected cracked gears and light lube needed in the fa-1 s but the fb-2 just seems slower and a bit noisy even after a light lube ( itwould quit down after lube but noise would return in a while) .so the question is could this be a motor going or worn out ,what are the signs?? thanks J.W. ps the 2 fa 1s seem fine ,run quite and smooth
Big Jerr -
Some of the earliest versions of the P2K line, late 1980’s and early 1990’s were noted for having bad gears. Lifelike was even offering free replacement sets at the time. That is probably what is happening, not a bad motor. Check it out.
A motor that is worn (burned) out will completely quit running altogether. Usually there is that burnt electrical smell in the air and will start to stall and begin jerking the locomotive right before it bites the dust. I’ve had only 2 locomotives (a 20+ year old Athearn F-7 unit and an Athearn SW1500 unit) ever burn up. If it is running, You might want to check to see if any wires are touching /dragging against the motor and that all the worm gears and gears are properly aligned and installed. If a motor burns up. it’s usually the motor windings that get hot enough to separate and loose enough electrical contact to cause a loss of the magnetic field which makes the motor spin quit spinning. It may be that you need to clean and/or replace the brushes in the armature and / or realign /replace the gear components.
The first thing I’d be looking for is a worn worm gear. Pop the worm gear housing cover off and check there first. If there is a lot of front to back slack action in the gear, add some thrust washers. Also check the worm gear pilot blocks for excessive wear.
well I took the advise and went for it ,tore into the fb unit since it was the worst and no lights and such to deal with(EASY FIRST TIME) . completely tore down, cleaned ,checked each gear,light lube ,tested each sub assembly for free movement,reassembled and wala…smooth quite and now a tad faster than the fa units …what a difference just getting rid of old gear lube and such makes.so what the heck ,got out the rest of my ebay older p2k stock ,first a brand new old stock gp7 (this was forsure new) lil noisy already had replaced the axle gears, but this one had no grease or oil at all ,and one of the gears (smaller of the three) was tite had to file the center hole abit to git it free turning , and wala smooth & quite …last the sd-7 (three wheel trucks) tore down as before but couldnt get the gear towers open (different than the 2 wheel truck) so I did what I could, reassembled put on the track (got about 80’ main tacked to bench work going around the room for testing ) and than looked for the paper work for sd7 so I could see how to open the towers,found it and thru the paper work on the bench over the track while I left the room for a beer and then it happened …a sound I never herd before …yep ,I left the sd7 running and it came to the place where I thru the paperwork and off the bench from 50" …THANK GOODNESS NO shell.
Buddy,
I feel for you and everyone else that happened to. Has to be one of the worst sounds/feelings.
Glad no major damage happened.
Frank
well good news ;went out to my train room @ 3am after last post and started to put the pieces back together, was missing 1 thrust washer and 1 of the drive lines ,the two little bars @ the ball were broke off . so I drilled the ball and stuck a small peace of music wire thru the hole , dis assembled the three wheel trucks cleaned and relube and wala runs better than it did before the fall[swg] . Im liking thease p2k more and more.heck the running gear looks just like the athearn. well Im happy as a clam . … J.W.